Batgirl? No Thanks
by labyrinth of chaos
Summary: She was robbed. She was broke. She was lost in some dark alley. She was about to crawl into the corner and sleep but of course a kidnap/murder scene just had to run by. After being nearly killed by Mr. Batman, her luck had finally hit all time low. R R
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hmm yes fangirl obsessing after seeing The Dark Knight. I don't own Batman. Isn't that just the most depressing thing any author would have to say? Admitting that their fantasy is only a fantasy. What a stab in the eye. Anyways, Read and Review!

Chapter 1

It was one of those dark city backstreets where only the stark light of the flickering street lamps illuminated the foggy eeriness, throwing dark shadows onto the crumbling, grafittied walls. No one lingered in this sort of backdrop. After all this was more than perfect setting for some backdoor kidnapping, murder, rape, and death in general by some unfathomable but certainly terrible cause. Even the beggars kept away from here afraid of being caught as witnesses to unspoken crime of the new mob that had been terrorizing the neighborhood. Rumor has it that their torture house was located around here, no one knew for sure and no one wanted to.

Actually, on this particular night there was one person on the street. She wandered aimlessly with a deep frown on her face wondering where in this gigantic city she could possibly be. She pursed her lips at her deteriorating situation. After all she was unemployed with only two crumpled one dollar bills and some coins in her pocket. Her jeans were faded, and her sneakers were peeling at the soles, and her face was set in a tight grimace. To top it all off, her stomach grumbled angrily. In truth her ragged worn down state complemented the depressing scene perfectly. The only thing strange of about this straggling girl was the katana strapped across her back.

Finally she decided that there was no point to keep walking and sunk into a bench beside the deserted streets. She was able to produce half of a very smushed and deformed peanut butter sandwich from on of her pockets. It didn't matter to her what it looked, extreme hunger had that sort of effect. Instead she swiftly pulled off the plastic wrap and devoured it in two bites. With her stomach some what satisfied, she stared into the swirling fog around her, thinking of nothing in particular since her body and mind were exhausted to the point that it would like nothing better than to curl up on the cold bench and fall asleep. Her heavy eyes were about to close in agreement when a shrill scream cut through the silent night like a sharp knife.

The girl didn't have to wait long before a woman dashed by carrying a young boy protectively to her chest. The woman and her child were being pursued by angry men in expensive Armani suits, all with a gun in their hands. "Don't let her get away!!" one of them shouted as they ran past the girl on the bench. No one noticed her.

She scowled at the sudden turn of events and counted evenly to three seconds glaring angrily at heavens for the cause of her misfortunes before crumpling the plastic wrap and followed the chase.

She caught up just as the last man ran into a large warehouse shouting to spread out and look for the woman. It was a typical warehouse with stacks upon stacks of unopened boxes and cans piled so high that a maze of walls was formed by its cargo. She ducked behind the nearest box and followed one of the men as they carefully scourged every nook and cranny. She came up behind the man unaware of her presence and dealt him a heavy blow on the back of his neck. He crumpled silently unnoticed by his fellow colleagues.

There were five men that had ran passed her. The porky one with the most rings on each finger was clearly the boss. And if that wasn't enough to confirm it, he was the one talking obnoxiously gloating to himself in clear sight. The girl ignored the main one, opting to cut down on the other three. She picked up the gun dropped by the first man and met the second one at the corner of a pile of cardboard boxes. She had to shoot this one since he screamed in surprise. Nothing fatal though, just enough to knock him unconscious. "Jim?" asked the big one in the middle. "Who the hell is here?" Great now they knew something was up. She cursed silently to herself and crept on avoiding the suddenly harsh and dangerous voice that echoed across the warehouse, as if he wasn't loud enough already.

She saw the next one coming from the shadow on one of the boxes, she opted to knock out this man with a swift leg chop right at the base of the neck, and he too went down with a gurgling choked scream.

There was sudden sharp scream as the porky one caught his target. "Don't hurt my son!!" the mother yelled with a desperate scream. The porky one ignored her, he was not out of danger yet. "Come out, come out wherever you are! If you don't I'll blow a hole right into his lovely skull."

The girl had no choice and she stepped into the yellow light with her hands raised. The porky one had the son in one hand with a gun to his head grinning at his sudden triumph. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded in his best mob boss voice, "future batgirl?" he chuckled at his joke as if it was the funniest thing he's ever said, sadly it was. "Now put you gun down, nice and slowly that's it, any sudden moves and the boy gets it." The girl had no choice but to obey as she slid the gun towards her enemy.

The mother of the boy was sobbing now in high hysteria pleading for the safety of her son. "Shaddup!" replied the porky one giving the teary eyed lady a rough kick. "It's all your husband's fault, he shouldn't've tried to play it smart with us. He tells us he needs money, and we give it to him, and then he says he needs more time to pays it back, and we give it to him. Then he tells us he's got nuthin' and he wants another two weeks, and we think he's gotta nice kid and wife at home, so's we give him another chance. Now he runs away. What can say? We're just collectin' whateva's left of the trash."

"Noo!! Please don't hurt him! Take me instead!!" the woman begged hysterically tugging on the perfectly creased trousers.

"No can do lady. Now uh back off, I don't like shooting women. This boy's got fresh organs ready to be sold on the black market."

"That's disgusting," the straggler girl commented evenly as she drew her sword.

The mob leader pointed the gun in her direction. "Hey watch it! One wrong move and I'll-"

At that precise moment, the girl darted forward slicing off the head of the gun, leaving it a useless piece of metal in porky's hands.

"You'll do what? Shoot me with that?" the girl replied.

"Oh," he managed to say glancing down at the piece of scrap metal in his hands. The next moment blackness enveloped his vision as the girl deftly knocked him out.

"Hey Hugo? What's happenin'? We've sent some backup you useless lump!"

The girl glanced around for the artificial voice and found it was emitted from the cell phone on the big one's pocket. "Shit," she cursed to herself as she roughly dragged up the little boy and swiping the gun on the floor. "Ok time to go."

"No! I don't wanna!!" yelled the little boy shrugging off the girl's hard grip. "Batman's coming to save me and mommy."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, a deathly silence filled the warehouse. The girl crouched down to the little boy's eye level so that he could see the exactly who he was talking to. "Batman is not going to save a whiny little brat like you, and in a couple of minutes you will never see this batman because you will be cut up into little piece and sold on the black market."

Obviously scare tactics did not work on little kids who didn't know what the black market was or the direct implication of being cut up into little pieces. Luckily he caught a whiff of the danger in the girl's voice and wisely back off to hide behind mommy. The sound of running footsteps was heard as the girl straightened up. "Shit," she swore again to herself and forced the head of the mother down behind one of the boxes. "Now shut up and do as I say. There's an exit in the far corner on your left. Move."

She cocked the gun in her hand, her eyes listening hard for the sound of approaching footsteps. There must have ten of them and they were still twenty feet away from the door, not to mention the obstacles that blocked their way. "I'll distract them. Go silent," she whispered and then she was off.

Ducking behind a few boxes to the right, she roughly kicked them over ducking to one side as bullets rained down on the spot her head was a second ago. Moving lithely, she shot back while kicking over boxes, distracting the mob from the escaping mother and child. She guessed that she had about thirty shots and that was enough to bring down three of her pursuers. Her gun clicked hollowly after the thirty second shot. She promptly threw away the useless weapon, once more drawing her sword. The steel tip shined brightly in the dim light. The mother and her boy should've escaped by now.

"Haha!" laughed one of the men, "She's outta bullets! Get her!"

She took a deep breath listening for the sound of the men running towards her. A bullet clipped past her leg leaving a bloody gash, but she ignored it, bee lining for the nearest man. Nimbly she impaled the first one on the shoulder, then yanked out the sword with a sickening schliickk.

The men back off suddenly, wary of this strange girl. One of the men who were a fair distance away groaned. "Watcha guys scared of? Her puny sword 'aint got nothing on a gun! Shoot her already!!"

Encouraged by their teammates, the men began to advance with their pistols cocked. This one was going to be tough to get out of. The girl looked around for something, anything to give her leverage. Then her chance appeared. There was a crane with a rope hanging just above a box to her right. She sheathed her sword, snatching up the fallen gun of the man she had cut down, and leaped onto the box snagging the line along the way. Her moment turned the crane and it swung her in a big arc into the exposed middle of the warehouse, her gun sweeping bullets as she swung to the other side. Two more men fell but then she was out of bullets for the second time as she landed on a high stack of cargos.

The shock wore off the next second and bullets followed her again. This time she knew where she was going. The height of the box provided her just the right height for a clear passage to the square windows. She jumped with out a backwards glance, shattering the glass as she went through. It was all very cinematic.

Needless to say, the gunshots and the yelling and the glass breaking stirred up some noise along the seemingly deserted warehouse area. The mob, who have been keeping a low profile so as not to catch the eyes of a certain vigilante were itching for a fight. Indeed their hideout was near the warehouse that our main character just bravely jumped out of so the noise needlessly brought out a bunch of onlookers.

The girl grimaced as rolled onto broken glass. She got up immediately, but she was instantly surrounded by twenty or so more people. "Oh come on," she groaned as she stood up noticing that one of her ankles was most certainly twisted and one her arm was bleeding after landing on sharp glass that had managed to cut through her thin polyester jacket. Maybe this great and powerful Batman will come and substitute her. God knows she needs it.

As she leaned against the wall of the warehouse with all her exits blocked by a mob with a gun or two, her prayer was answered. The dark night of Gotham city dropped down from the roof in a flurry of black cape. Just the sight of him was enough to make everyone else take a few steps back.

"Don't worry guys! We've gottem' cornered," one of them said though no one was very reassured.

A second later, two of the men who were the closest were dropped by an iron fist while everyone else started to loose bullets at a safer distance. The girl groaned again and ducked to the side for she would've most certainly been nailed by the bullets that missed the man in mask in front of her. She swiped two guns as she dodged to the side and returned fire as Batman worked his way through the mob, breaking guns and knocking them unconscious.

One of them who was slightly smarter than the other saw a pile of oil cans tied to the back of a truck. He cut the ropes loose letting the cans roll and tumble, crushing everything in their ways. One of them caught the masked crusader on the side slamming him into the already injured girl. She let out an 'umph' as all the air were forced from her lungs, "Ah, Shit, shit," she swore as she felt the bulk of Batman fractured some of her ribs. Her eyes were already starting the blur in the corners.

There was only a few of them left now, but it was still tedious none the less. She shoved aside the head of caped man since she had no strength to push him off all together, and shot back. Every bullet found its mark and finally there was silence.

She forced her lungs to breath, moving as little as possible in case her ribs dug into her lungs, that is to say if they weren't already lodged in there. Pain was starting to blur her vision but she felt the massive man roll off of her. Without a word, he turned to leave. With the rest of her remaining strength she caught a hold of the swirling black cape, "Hey, you, do you have a place I can stay tonight?" And then she passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! When I saw the mistake on the first chapter, I nearly died from shock. I really need to lose this perfectionist tendencies. Anyways it's all fixed now!

Chapter 2

The first thing she noticed was that it was really soft, and there was a warm light somewhere beyond her eyelids. She tried to wiggle her toes and they moved, but it could have been phantom response since she couldn't actually see them. Time to try her eyes as she slowly cracked open both eyes. It seemed like afternoon judging by the orangey light that filtered through some sort of windows behind her. The ceilings were way higher than any normal rooms maybe even three times higher. Then a man entered her limited view, looking down on her. He had white wispy hair and a kind smile, just like- "Areyougod?" she managed to slur out.

"No, and your not dead either," the other one replied. He had a slight British accent. "My name is Alfred, pleasure to meet you."

She tried to nod and shift her body into a sitting position. Searing pain bolted through every nerve in her body and she stopped struggling. "Right not dead," she muttered to herself as she fell asleep again.

The next time she woke up, it was dark in the room, and there were voices conversing in a low tone. At first she thought that she was dreaming, but the voices sharpened as she became more awake.

'How is she?"

"She's doing remarkably well, though I still don't understand why you didn't bring her to the hospital." That was Alfred's voice.

"Alfred, she had no ID on her, no wallet or card or anything. That would've been awkward and suspicious." That was another man's voice; clearly someone who had found her. She blinked in confusion. Why was she here in some stranger's house? She fidgeted silently for a minute before it all came back to her. That's right; Batman nearly killed me, and then what? Oh right, I asked if I could stay at his house. Oh god. She groaned and the talking stopped.

There was no point to avoid the situation any longer. She opened her eyes and sat up ignoring the pain in her chest. Alfred was at her side immediately as she cast a glance around the room for the other person, but he was no where in sight. "Are you alright miss?" Alfred asked kindly.

The girl nodded. "A-arigato, I mean thank you for – for taking care of me," she replied still with some difficulty stringing words together.

"Don't think anything about it. You should rest."

"Um Alfred-san, I was wondering, not to impose or anything, but could I, could I have something to eat?"

Alfred smiled kindly, "Of course Miss-"

It took the girl a few seconds before she realized that she was being asked for her name. "Oh, my name is Aya Inagaki."

"Aya it is. I'll be right back. You keep resting," Alfred replied bustling out a gigantic room as it seemed to be. She blinked a couple of times to make sure she was seeing clearly. The ceiling was high, the walls were windows, the room was enormous, the bed she was on was not only soft and warm but extremely luxurious and she was naked.

Well not completely naked since her chest was wrapped with tight bandages, so was one of her arms and another hand. She pulled the covers up to her chest feeling suddenly awkward and embarrassed though there was no one there. Or was there? She cast another look around the room and though she saw something stir in the shadows. Her eyes must be playing tricks on her.

She breathed deeply for a couple of seconds and turned to the many questions swirling in her head. First, where was she? Sure she was delirious and asked Batman to stay at his house, but who'd thought that it would be some super lux hotel. Then again it was probably wrong to assume that it was Batman. Maybe he dropped her off somewhere and someone else picked her up. The more she thought into it, the more her head started to hurt, so promptly she gave up, instead she let her eyes wander the gigantic room lit by moonlight. She had never been in any rooms so beautiful.

By then Alfred had returned with a trolley laden with an assortment of food. "I'm afraid the kitchen staff had already gone home so this is just some leftovers that I was able to scourge together." Leftovers or not, the smell of warm food seemed heavenly. Aya made to leave the bed so as not to dirty the sheets when the older man pulled a breakfast table up so that she could enjoy her first real meal in many days in the comfort of the bed.

She dug in enthusiastically and ate and ate and ate. By the time she had drained the last cup of fizzy strawberry juice her full stomach had triggered a release of endorphins and she was smiling happily to herself. "Hey Alfred-san, are you Batman?" she asked as the man servant came back to collect the trays.

"No, I am not."

"Am I being charged for this?"

"Of course not Miss Aya. Batman had arranged everything for you, so you should just relax."

"Ok. Oh you don't have to call me Miss."

Alfred smiled again, "Very well, Aya, you should sleep."

"Mmmn, k," she replied starting to become drowsy from the full stomach. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her sword leaned against the wall beside her bed and she felt suddenly relieved. "Goodnight Alfred-san."

"Goodnight," Alfred replied closing the door to the room.

Bruce Wayne alias Batman was currently in his secret hideout in the middle of the city under some abandoned factory. He wasn't unduly concerned about the girl he rescued and left at the penthouse since he rarely went there anyways. He was more concerned about the mob that he fought with the other night. They were clearly only a small fraction composed of small time crooks and were nothing too serious once they knew that Batman is keeping a watch over them. However Commissioner Gordon had just emailed him the news that during the investigation when the police showed upon scene, the arrested mob dropped dead one after another all from different causes. At the end, of the thirty or so people that were arrested, not one was left alive to be questioned. This irregularity was no doubt caused by their own men who wished to silence them once and for all. It was a tight operation that this new mafia group was running. Of the suspected 500 or so accounts of drug dealing, weapon trading, murder and a series of other offenses, not a single case was able to be traced to the Vorrenti family as they were known. That was only the ones that police suspected.

Bruce slammed the table out of frustration. There was a genius mastermind behind all of this pulling the strings, and for once it wasn't the Joker. The Joker didn't like organizing. He ignored the sound of motors turning as the elevator clicked down. Undoubtedly it was Alfred with the morning coffee.

"Master Bruce, you are due for a meeting at twelve o' clock today. It's an important one as Yvonne asked me to remind you," Alfred commented as he strode up to his charge, a suit in one hand, and the coffee and morning newspaper in the other. Since Bruce could not convince Lucius Fox to come back to Wayne enterprise, Yvonne Jones, the CFO had stepped up to fill the position. She was extremely strict with a strong sense of ethics and she was highly efficient in everything she does, making her an invaluable member of the team. Although Bruce could not find a fault in her, he still didn't like her. She did not joke, ever and every day was business.

Bruce's face tightened at the sound of her name and immediately wanted a change in topic. He took the coffee and drank it all in one gulp. "How's the girl?"

"Her name is Aya Inagaki, and she seems to be from some sort of half Japanese descent since she keeps throwing in Japanese words."

"Really? Any background checks? Family?"

"Well I looked her up, and it seems that she wasn't a native of Gotham. So I looked up the Japanese registry and found five hits, none of which fits her description. Of course she could've given a false name," Alfred answered, "Master Bruce?"

"Yes Alfred?"

"Do you think that she could've been a part of the mob?"

"I don't think so; she risked her life to save the woman and her child in the warehouse. Besides she saved me, so for now I'll give her the benefit of the doubt."

"Very good, and just to let you know, it's fifteen minutes to twelve."

"Ok," Bruce replied absently still wrapped up in his own thought before it struck him, "Oh." One word popped up into his head, Yvonne.

"The Lamborghini then Master Bruce?"

"Yeah," he managed to reply as he hastily stripped off his clothes for the suit Alfred had draped on the chair.

When Aya woke up again, she was bright eyed and very happy, though she wasn't sure why. Alfred was no where in sight but another trolley laden with breakfast sat beside her bed. She devoured it hungrily, careful not spill any crumbs onto the lovely bed. After her stomach was satisfied, she put a toe gingerly out of the bed and stood up experimentally. Her legs were fine apart from the cut on her thigh. There was a robe beside her bed which she put on and walked over to the sofa on the other side of the room. It felt like a very long walk. A lovely white dress was folded into a neat square sat on the leather seat with a card that said, "For Aya" and her old clothes, now washed and mended sat beside it. It was a summer dress with satin ribbons that shined in the morning light. She put it on and twirled around in it admiring the way it flowed so nicely. She had never owned such a pretty dress before. The heeled shoes were ignored as she pranced around in bare feet. Occasionally she had to sit down for her chest would start to ache if she over exerted herself.

She called out for Alfred, but he was no where to be found and so she explored the luxurious place all by herself. She realized that it must be some sort of penthouse or suite of some kind since there were multiple rooms outside of the one she occupied. There was a dining room, an entertainment room, another bedroom much nicer than her own which she figured must belong to the owner, a bar, a washroom with a pool sized bath tub, an actual standard sized swimming pool and a grand living room of some kind. As she timidly walked into the living room which was by far the biggest room yet, her eyes caught a sight of the white grand piano in the corner. Her feet cared her across the polished wooden floor and she sat down with wide eyes.

She opened the lid of the piano hesitating before timidly pressing a key. The piano responded easily to her touch as the pure note echoed in the stillness. She glanced around hoping Alfred didn't mind as she plucked up the courage to press some more keys. Her fingers were a little stiff, it had been almost a year since she last touched a piano but as she started to play, a sudden forgotten joy leaped into her heart. The way every note vibrated under her touch and she found herself playing everything she could think of from Chopin to Final Fantasy theme songs.

Music calmed her and it cleared her mind for thinking. She had come to the decision that Alfred knows who Mr. Batman-san is and does not wish for her to know. She could respect that. Mr. Batman-san was clearly insanely rich, which explains the penthouse/suite thing and the manservant. But then again, why would some rich guy fight crime in tights and mask? Ah, that must be because he was one of those eccentric rich guys. That pretty much explained everything. Now she had to decide what she is going to do. This invitation was not going to last forever and since she is capable of walking, she should not impose on her host any longer. I'll leave after I finish playing here, she said plucking away at the keys with vigor.

Alfred returned to the penthouse after ensuring that Bruce made it to his meeting with seconds to spare. The first thing he noticed was the music that echoed around the halls as he entered from the elevator. He listened from the door of the living room admiring her vigor as she played a fast paced piece. When she finally stopped, he clapped enthusiastically. "Bravo Aya, that was wonderful."

Aya embarrassed at being found, and even more so for not hearing the footsteps of the butler, quickly stood up and wrung her hands. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, to-"

"No, no, don't apologize. That piano rarely sees anyone; I'm glad that it's found you."

Aya could only smile back timidly. This whole house including Alfred intimated her and since she was being so well looked after, a small piece of her hearted twanged at the thought of leaving.

"How are you feeling?" Alfred proceeded to ask, placing down the bag of dirty clothes that he had collected from the secret base.

"Oh, I'm feeling great. Thank you again for everything. I don't know how I'm going to be able to pay you back," Aya replied flustered at the thought of paying them back, after all, she only had about two dollars in her pocket.

"You shouldn't thank me, it was Batman who had it all arranged for you. But don't feel that you are indebt to him, since he is returning his debt to you for saving his life," Alfred commented with a small smile.

"Um, I don't suppose I'll be able to meet him right? Even so, I wanted to thank him personally. Well not t-to impose on his time or anything since he seems like a busy man and all but you know, it would be nice," she trailed off in silence.

"I don't think you'll be able to meet him but I will let him know the next time I see him, your heartfelt thanks."

The girl sighed, "Thank you Alfred-san."

Alfred chuckled, "Are you Japanese?"

"Ah only half, from my dad's side. I lived in Japan during my childhood."

"So what brings you to Gotham?"

"Um, well," Aya replied sighing rather dejectedly at her sorry fate, "I was on the train to New York, and I fell asleep on the way. When I woke up my wallet with my ticket in it was gone. I was kicked off the train and here I was in Gotham city. So I wandered around a bit and it wasn't such a bad place so I thought I'd stay here and try my luck as a musician."

"Musician? May I ask what kind?"

"Well I can play the piano and most string instrument, like violin, guitar and cello. That's about it."

"That's very impressive for someone so young."

Aya blushed and muttered, "It's the only thing I'm good at."

"Do you have family here?"

Aya dipped her head, "No."

"Well I won't stop you but I think another days rest will do you a world of good. If you'd like, I can point you to some places that might need a musician."

"R-really?" the girl asked surprised by the kind offer, "Thank you."

"Actually now that you've mentioned it, how about I offer you a job, it's a one night thing for next Thursday, there's going to be a rather large party, and it would be wonderful if you could play some music for it as entertainment. Since I've already had a taste of your skills, I shall offer you 120 an hour. What do you say?"

Aya's mouth hung open in shock, "A-a hundred and twenty dollars an hour?!"

"No? Alright 150 is my final offer," Alfred said with a flat face.

"N-no 120 is way more than enough," Aya replied hastily at the kind man's offer and collapsed into a chair. "Alfred you are the nicest person I've met in a very long time."

"Nice?" Alfred replied incredulously, "I was trying to strike a bargain. I don't know what you are talking about."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: To answer one of my reader's question, no I'm not Japanese. I've just been watching a lot of Anime prior to the whole Batman fangirl-ism thing. SO this is the weird hybrid that manifested in my mind. Yes, I've been a little slow updating, but that is because of the Olympics. It's very distracting and can go on for hours at times. XD

Chapter 3

It was exactly two days later, a Wednesday actually. Nothing eventful happened, other than the fact that the day before, the Joker had broken out of jail once again and terror hangs at the back of the mind in every good citizen of Gotham. The last time with the boat incident was enough to send people into retirement. Of course Aya being the foreigner and the new girl in town didn't really understand the implication on any of this. Sure Alfred looked more tense than usual, but so did everyone else. Aya stepped out of the bathroom with a fluffy white towel wrapped around her body. Alfred had insisted that stayed at the penthouse until Thursday so that she could practice on the piano. There was a pile of dusty music sheets in the corner of a cupboard and so Aya practiced everyday for eight hours working out the joints in her fingers until they were concert worthy. Alfred occasionally dropped by, but he had other things to do, something about supervising some kind of mansion reconstruction.

Anyhow, Aya had finally decided that it was not so rude to take a bath in the gigantic washroom/pool thing with marble interior and taps made of gold. Most of her wounds were healing nicely and she had just applied a roll of fresh bandages. She smelled nice too. She had realized that she left the white dress outside on the bed and she snuck out of the washroom to fetch it. The thing is, the washroom and her room were separated by the main hall and even though Alfred said he would be out for most of the day, it was still awkward to dart across the place in a towel. As it turns out she was right to be nervous.

Mr. Bruce Wayne was currently sitting at the board's meeting. It was that time of year to discuss what direction the board should be taking the company for the next few years to come. Yvonne who was at the head of the table was mediating the discussion as each of the board members presented their ideas. Mr. Bruce Wayne was the only one with no contribution to the table; his mind was occupied by the escape of the Joker, and the development with the mob. True that crime had decreased severely since he stepped up in the cape, but only made more space for the dangerous psycho ones. His hands were fuller than ever.

"Mr. Wayne."

On the bright side, ever since Gordon took up the roll as commissioner, he has been reforming the police themselves, rooting out any corruption that still lingered in the force from Malroney's interference.

"MR. WAYNE." The man in question snapped out of his contemplation and turned to the voice calling his name. He was received by the hard glare of Yvonne.

"Yes?" he asked politely. Yvonne didn't like his carefree attitude, his tardy demeanors and especially his girls. Since she was the only woman in the conference room and being a strong feminist, she had taken high offense to his playboy behaviors.

"I was just asking what your opinion is of the proposal that Vectors Inc. had just offered us on this joint project," she replied sliding a sheaf of papers across the table.

Bruce looked down at the first page. Vectors Inc. was a relatively new company focused on creating cutting edge technology mainly in communications. Lucius had mentioned it somewhere. What was it that he told him? He looked up. "Well, I'm not satisfied with the background check especially their numbers which has some strange inconsistencies. Companies that rise too fast are dangerous. I want to be absolutely sure before we put anything into it."

Some of the other members nodded in agreement. Yvonne shuffled some papers like a news anchor before responding. "Mr. Wayne, although I concur with your sentiments, this was what you had said at last week's meeting. We have already given a full two weeks into the search and the deadline expires in two days. If we cannot come to an agreement, by that time, they will certainly pass on that offer to NeoTech," Everyone flinched at the name of their number one competitor, "and they will certainly not let the chance go."

"Ok, one more day is enough. There are just some things I need to confirm. It should have arrived at my penthouse already."

Yvonne took off her glasses folding them neatly before glaring at her CEO, "Well what are you waiting for?"

Bruce took the cue and left, glad to be finally away from the intensity of the she-devil.

Aya was half way across the hall, when she heard the clicking sound of the door being closed. She held her breath as listened hard into the silence, taping her body against the shadows of the wall. The footsteps were coming closer and they were not the amble strides of Alfred. She glanced towards the other side of the hall way where her room was and made a dash for it.

In all fairness, Bruce was still relatively focused as he keyed in the security pin to his penthouse. Alfred was back at the mansion supervising its construction and he just needed to fetch the file on his computer that Lucius had sent him a day ago. He didn't read it yet, but he knew it was about Vectors Inc and all the skeletons in their closets. He threw his blazer onto the nearest couch and proceeded to his room. Suddenly he stopped as his ears picked up a sound. His house had very polished walls and floor that amplified even the smallest pin drop. It was footsteps, very faint footsteps. Carefully he grabbed a gun that was hidden in a secret compartment of the wall and proceed to discover the source of the sound. He entered the guest chamber with the gun pointed in front of him. There was no one there. He looked around carefully then he swiveled 300 degrees pointing the gun at the cranny behind the door.

It was the girl, wrapped in a towel cowering at the base with both hands up to shield her face. She was staring at him as if she had seen him for the first time which was true on her part. Bruce lowered his gun when he realized who it was. He had completely forgotten that this girl was still here, very unusual for him to forget anything maybe he thought that Alfred would've kicked her out already. What was her name? It took a second before Bruce retrieved it, "Aya."

At the sound of her name being uttered by this stranger in the latest Hugo Boss suit, she bolted from the spot, grabbing the white dress on the bed and ran out the penthouse slamming the door behind her. The door didn't slam, it was whisper shut. The sudden turn of events left Bruce a little stunned. He usually had the completely opposite effect on girls. In any case, he didn't chase her. He shrugged, figuring she wasn't going anywhere far with a towel around her body. Instead he headed to his room where his computer hummed gently on his desk.

About five minutes later, Alfred came through the door noticing the blazer on the couch; he knew his charge was here. "Master Bruce?" he inquired.

"In here Alfred."

The butler entered the master bedroom. "This is a surprise; I thought for sure you would be back at the base."

"Yea well you seemed to have forgotten to mention our guest. I almost shot her because I thought she was an intruder."

Alfred frowned slightly, "She's recovering. Did you expect me to turn her out to the streets? I've just dropped by to pick up the backup layout for the new dining room. Speaking of which Yvonne just called me to remind you of your dinner tonight with the board so you can confirm a contract with Vectors Inc," Alfred said placed a tray of food down beside his charge and went to look for the guest.

Bruce knitted his brows. The two people he escape from: the Joker and Yvonne; both of which enjoyed dumping copious amount of unhealthy stress onto him. Yvonne recently had taken on a second job to be his personal secretary, calling him at all hours to remind him of his commitment to his company. She clearly felt that his laid back attitude was not going to cut the line, so she was reinforcing through "subtle" means.

"Master Bruce," Alfred's voice came through the door, "Where is she?"

"Uh, she ran out, a moment ago."

Alfred who had re-entered the room gave him a disapproving glance. "And where was she going?"

Bruce stood up. Maybe he needed a vacation. "You know what; I think I'll go look for her. A recovering person really shouldn't be running around on the streets in bare feet."

Looking out of the window from the escalator on the second floor, Bruce saw the Asian girl. At least she had the right mind to put on the dress, but no shoes, or money or any idea of where she should be going. He vaguely wondered what she was intending to do in this sorry state.

Aya on the other hand nervously wrung her hands in apprehension. She didn't mean to just run out like that, but the man had scared her out of her wits. She walked down one street after another her heart pounding like an angry war drum, ignoring the stares of others since she was still some what bandaged. Of course there was far more to her fear than just being shocked by a man pointing a gun at her that happened quiet often. No, it was something much more disturbing.

By the time she had slowed down, she was back in another shady backstreet. She groaned as she realized where she was. This shouldn't come as a surprise anymore since her internal compass seems to be in love with dark shady back alleys where she can easily get kidnapped and killed. There was a typical gangsters huddled in a group on some steps and trash littered everywhere. Her heart had settled into a steady beat and she could breath easily now. She looked around to see where she was, thinking about what she should do next, though she already knew. She needed to go back and apologize besides Alfred had given her a job and that was tomorrow evening. Someone tapped her on the back and she jumped around.

"Hey sweetie, are ya lost?" it was one of the thugs with a grin that was wholly insincere.

Aya stood her ground. "No," she replied automatically.

The guy chuckled. "Well, sweetie, this is our territory, and if you wanna get out, you're gonna have ta pay up," he said with a Brooklyn drawl. "But it seems like you ain't got any cash on ya, so your body will have ta do." He grabbed her wrist as he finished.

Aya was not unduly worried, and deftly kicked the man in his crotch. He crumbled over while his mates hooted in laughter. She had hoped that her show of violence would discourage the others. It didn't.

"Aha, look at what she did to ta boss! Let's get her!" one of them shouted as they surrounded her on all sides.

She didn't wait for the gangster to give each other the signal so that they all could attack at once. Instead she kicked the man behind her in the chest sending him toppling backwards. The next two she nailed with several jabs to the pressure points leaving them paralyzed on the ground. There were only two more guys, and they were wary of her martial arts skills choosing to wait for an opportunity from far away.

"WATCH OUT!!"

The voice distracted her more than anything else as she turned towards the source. Unfortunately, in that split moment, she let her guard down and an iron crow bar connected with her skull.

Bruce saw everything from 100 meters away as he tagged the girl around the town. She seemed to be very keen to get away from him and walked in bare feet as if a deadly cobra was hot on her trail. Although she was walking swiftly through the crowd, Bruce found that he had to run to keep up. She finally stopped in some dark alley to his relief as he tried to catch his breath. He undid his tie and threw it into the nearby garbage bin; it was seriously constricting his breathing. He was about to close the distance between him and the girl when some thugs accosted her. She dropped the first one and the others ganged up on her in a circle. She fought pretty well, but then one of the men she knocked over had retrieved a crow bar. Since he was still a fair distance away, Bruce knew there was nothing he could do, so he yelled, "WATCH OUT!!" His good intentions turned bad really fast when she seemed more shocked at hearing his voice than paying attention to what he said. She was hit with the crowbar and needlessly to say she collapsed on the spot and they heaved her into the back of a van. There was no time to go back and fetch the batman mask. Instead he quickly twisted a dial on his watch and aimed at the back of the van. A very small missile shot out towards it sticking a small red dot inconspicuously on the side. His watch started to beep on contact. At least now he had GPS. He turned around, and dashed out of the scene.

At the same time the Joker was in a very bad mood and being the twisted person that he is, he smiled more. The new mob was trickier than he had thought; certainly much smarter and more difficult to be won over. In fact he nearly escaped with his life by blowing up half the building that they rendezvous in. It was a total disaster with no results; he didn't even get to see the main boss. Even torturing innocent people and watching them squeal in fear were not enough to lift his mood. Well that isn't to say he didn't feel slightly better.

Currently he was sitting in a plush chair polishing his knives. There was no need for them to get rusty from all the blood; besides, rusty things don't cut cleanly or well. The Joker always had a group of followers, some he had 'persuaded' and others who simply chose to sick with the winning team. Of course just because he had a mob on one hand doesn't mean he was ignoring the other hand with Batman. In fact, he was about to unveil another great masterpiece but due to the incompetence of his lackeys, things were set back a few days. That was because he had to replace the incompetent ones. The door opened behind him, and he heard some of the new recruitments come in. On slow days, he liked to have them bring in random people so that if he felt upset, he could pull one out and torture them. Besides, he formed his greatest masterpieces by listening to screams of others. Since he recently got out of jail, his stash has been diminished to an old balding man who was on the verge of death. Dying people usually weren't so scared of death and they were really boring. No screaming and begging at all. "O, a princess I see. I wonder if your mummy and daddy will scream when then see you after I send you home?" he cooed as they dumped out the girl from a rough sack.

When Aya woke up, she was in some starkly lit warehouse. There was a big throbbing lump on the side of her head and the chair she was sitting on was hard and cold. She breathed deeply and took in her surroundings. Her feet were tied together by a rope of all things. Seriously, what sort of bad guys would tie you up with a rope? Silver masking tape was clearly harder to get out of and is easier to get. Anyways, her arms were tied behind her back, but they didn't even tie it to the chair. If it wasn't for the seriousness of her situation, she would've frowned at the severe underestimation of her abilities. Then again who would over estimate a thin little Asian girl in a white dress?

She was in some kind of basement since there were no windows and one door in the far dark corner. A table stood off to one side, littered with dissected bombs, guns, machine guns, and other assortments of tools that shined dangerously in the yellow light. A man in a purple coat who had his back to her, was in the distance telling some of the other thugs to get out.

She exhaled slowly. She had to focus or else the slight second which could be her only chance will slip away. She's been in worse situations before. The man in the tattered purple coat turned around and even Aya's heart gave a slight lurch at the crumbling makeup and the deformed mouth of this psychopathic man.

"My aren't you a pretty one, why don't you smmmmmmiiiillllle a little hmm?" he asked grandly with is arm opened. His voice almost sounded like a whine. Almost, the dangerous glint of the knife in his hand discouraged that thought.

If Aya hadn't been putting on the brave face, she would have flinched out of convulsion for the twisted face of the man in front of her. "Ah, don't worry mister, you're much prettier than I will ever be," she replied with a smile, a very fake smile that said I'm-not-scared-of-an-ugly-clown.

Somewhere deep inside the black and twisted heart of the Joker, there was a little twang. Wasn't anyone scared of him anymore? When he first debuted, his name struck fear into everyone's hearts leaving them in a state of panic and shock. First batman and now this pop princess; she was either really brave or really stupid. Well either way it won't matter after she's been diced up. "You like the look? I'm glad; you must be the first person to say so."

"Ah, well you could, um you know probably do with a little touching up on the uh face powder. Maybe you should use rice powder, it works really well."

The Joker smoothed back his greasy hair and smiled wider, " It's really not about the make up, if you can smile as well as I can. Here I'll show you," he replied flicking out a four inch switch blade pressing it against her face; she didn't flinch, probably too scared to move. "You see, all you have to do, is-"

Aya, who had been keeping her eyes peeled for the split second opportunity, was too busy timing the events to notice how bloodcurdling the Joker could be up close. As he closed in her hand tightened around the support bars of the back of the chair. Suddenly she stood up and pirouetted on the spot, the chair she sat on flung out from underneath her crashing into the Joker's side sending him flying. The switch blade left the Joker's hand and was on a deadly streak down; Aya caught it in her mouth. Since she wasn't tied to the chair, it was simple for her to cut through the ropes around her hand and then her feet. The noise brought out all a bunch of small time bad guys from the other room. The Asian girl wasted no time and hoisted the head of the psycho man up by his grease greenish hair pressing the knife to his throat ignoring the maniacal laughter that was echoing from the demented man.

"Get out of the way or he'll get seriously hurt."

The Joker laughed harder. "What's the matter princess? You won't kill me?!" he managed to cackle out between raspy gasps of air.

Aya tightened her grip, pressing the knife deeper into his throat. She turned to the gangsters standing by the door unsure of their course of action, "Hey guys, guess what? If I don't kill him, he might kill you."

The prospect of the Joker being humiliated and then live to exact revenge was too horrible for anyone to imagine. A few weapons came down and Aya pushed her way through dragging the psychopath along.

Bruce on the other hand had picked up a small Porsche and sped down the highway to rescue the girl. He ended up on the outskirts of the factory district and as he stepped outside of his car, the beeping became more and more frequent, meaning he was close. On the other side of the alleyway, was the van, and no one in sight. Bruce looked around and found a rusty door that was left ajar. He groaned, open door almost always meant a trap but this wasn't the time to contemplate that sort of things. On the inside, it was dark and the short hallway lead to a longer darker one. Bruce donned a set of sun glasses. Of course they weren't just any sunglasses; they were heat detecting, ultraviolet scanners. The first person he found he deftly pressed his face into the ground demanding where the girl was.

"She's down stairs with the Joker," he had managed to cough out before Bruce shut his eyes for a while.

Things always go from worse to hell. He really can't keep this girl around for much longer if this was going to be a norm. "Right, when this is over, Alfred is taking her to the nearest adoption center," he muttered to himself, taking the gun off the fallen gangster.

Aya had managed to find some duct tape, much better than rope and tied the Joker up so she could free the use of one hand. She took care to tape his mouth so that he would stop laughing, though it didn't stop the man from shaking violently as he silently jeered at her. She dragged him down the hallway as the mob finally realized that the Joker was already being humiliated and if they let the pop princess go, and she didn't manage to kill the Joker, they would still be dead. So it was time to earn their paychecks as they rushed out to get her. She was only a girlie. Aya on the other hand was dashing down the halls knocking down surprised people as she went. Just as she reached the door to the stair well, it flung open. Aya immediately twirled around, ramming her heel into whoever was standing there. Surprisingly the other man blocked her. She didn't wait and punched with all her might. The man fell, and she stepped over him, dragging the Joker along.

In the stairwell, her breathing was coming short and she wasn't particularly interested by the idea of dragging the twitching man up all those stairs. So, she cocked the gun she had swiped from some one along the way and pointed it at the Joker's head. "I said I wouldn't kill you, but I changed my mind."

"AYA!!" Bruce yelled as he emerged from the top of the stair case. "Don't shoot!"

Aya flinched violently at the sight of the billionaire and a bullet buried itself in the floor. "Wh-what are you doing here?!"

Bruce came down the stairs three steps at a time and knocked the gun out of the girl's hand. "You don't know who you're dealing with," he replied as calmly as he could.

Aya tightened her grip, "Y-you want this psycho on my conscience? How can I sleep knowing he's alive somewhere roaming the streets ready to exact revenge?"

"She's gotta point," The Joker commented off handedly. Then noticing both of their glares on him, he held up his palm in defense, "N-not that I'm interrupting your- your little get together or anything."

Aya dodged to the side dragging the billionaire along. Not only did the Joker manage to untie himself, but an ominous ticking sound echoed from under his jacket. The pair flung up the stairs and out the building just as a huge explosion trailed in their wake. It sent them flying into the ground raining pieces of metal, glass, brick and other dangerous sharp things. Unsurprisingly, Aya got a lot of cuts again, and the bare feet thing wasn't making it any better. Later she grudgingly admitted that she should start wearing shoes for safety purposes, inside and out.

The police, the ambulance and the firefighters arrived on scene in a matter of minutes and after a tedious explanation to the head honcho, and few calls to Gordon, Bruce managed to drive away with the girl wrapped up in many layers of bandages. They drove in dead silence for a while, he noticed that she was wringing her hands again, looking out the window, clearly avoiding him; she was even sitting as far away as she possibly could. This blatant avoidance is annoying for anyone, the billionaire not exempted. "So why is a girl who had no qualms about putting a bullet into a man's head, scared of me?"

Aya jumped slightly at his voice. "Uh-um, m-my doctor said I had a mild case of-of split personality disorder," she offered hopefully, avoiding any eye contact. "And it's not you that I'm scared of, Mr. Batman-san, you just remind me of some one really scary."

"I see," Bruce replied in what he hoped was a good natured voice. Then it hit, "Oh, my name is Bruce."

Aya offered a small smile in return. "I won't tell." The rest of the ride was much more pleasant and by the time they had gotten back to the penthouse, Aya had stopped wringing her hands.

Alfred was in the living room, "I hope nothing bad had happened? Both of you were gone an awfully long time." Behind him the TV. was broadcasting the latest news on a factory that exploded which allegedly was one of the Joker's secret bases. Bodies of some gang members were found but none of them belonged to the criminal mastermind.

Aya gave the old man a hug. "I'm sorry for running out like that Alfred-san. It won't happen again, so don't worry."

"Alright, why don't you relax a little? As for you Master Bruce-"

Bruce collapsed into a soft sofa chair running his hand through his hair, "I know, I know, Yvonne and chair meeting dinner tonight. Tell Yvonne I'm coming so she should stop reminding me," he mumbled. "I'm going to take a shower."

Alfred nodded and reached for the cell phone, but it rang before he could dial the number. Even Alfred was getting annoyed with this Yvonne.

"Is he coming?" the brisk voice snapped.

"Master Bruce? Yes he is, and might I remind you, Yvonne, of tomorrow? It is his birthday and it would be such a shame if you were not there to keep him in line. Yes, he will be there. Bye now."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: The Goddess of fan fiction Obsessiviae have smiled down on me and given me a plot to work around my very Mary-sue character (which I deeply apologize but not really since this is some story I wrote down with the sole purpose of entertaining myself). Yes, up till now, this story has not experienced any significant plot, but NOW I do, and I have a pretty good one if I must say so myself. BUT most likely it will just die away like most fan fictions and not go anywhere. Ehem, just read on…..

Chapter 4

In a dark, secret room somewhere deep in Gotham….

"What are we environmentalists? Turn on the goddamned lights!"

Some one pressed the light switch and twenty or so sparkling chandeliers burst into life, illuminating the plush divans and tiger skin carpet, and stolen artworks that adorned the walls including a DaVinci and a Picasso. The one who flicked open the lights sighed a little to himself. There was no drama now a day, no scary dark meeting rooms where heinous plots are hatched, this place looked like a five star hotel room minus the windows. There were no windows for obvious security reasons.

"Hey don't slouch, you don't want the boss to catch you like that!" the other one hissed as they stood to attention on each side of the door. Just then their boss strolled in with a couple of body guards. He was their feared leader, head of the Vorenti family and most notorious mob in Gotham. Actually a couple of months back their little crime group was a nobody, not even good enough to join the other mobs in their regular golfing at the country club on the outskirts of the city, but thanks to the Joker and Batman, all of those guys are either dead or safely locked behind bars. Giuseppe chuckled to himself. In a way, by not accepting him, it has helped cleared the way for him to rise to the top. Of course there is a special mention of thanks to _him_ for making all of this possible.

He wasn't here to night in person, but there was a 60" flat panel screen above the fire place through which they will plan their dastardly acts. Who exactly was this person? He is the shadow king of the Vorenti, the mastermind of evil, and the self proclaimed thwarter of justice and in extension, Batman. Supposedly this was only his part time job. Yes, it was sort of corny, but he has delivered his promises of making the Vorenti the most feared mob family exceptionally well. Not only has the law filed twenty or so unsuccessful lawsuits, but even the infamous Batman is left in frustration. Giuseppe sipped wine from an ornamented wine glass. The wine was especially imported from his home town in Italy.

The three or so other self proclaimed vital members of the Vorenti family lounged easily on the couches beside him, but not on the same as himself. The big boss gets his own chair. The screen popped into life as their much anticipated partner in crime fizzled into a clear picture.

The man was brisk, all business, "I know for a fact that the shipments came in well and so there is nothing but good news to be heard from you right?"

Giuseppe rolled his eyes, "What is the point in calling if you only want to hear things that you already know?" he asked shaking his head in disbelief. "You should come down here sometimes and relax a bit, have a drink, put your foot up once in a while."

The man on the screen smiled back thinly, "Another time. Actually, I have a rather exciting party to attend to night, as a celebration to a new founded success. I heard last time it really brought down the house," he replied chuckling at his inside joke.

Giuseppe was not unduly bothered, "Why wasn't I invited?"

The man on the screen hardened for a split second before replying good naturedly, "That is because you aren't good looking enough, my good man. Anyhow anything else I should know about before I go?"

"Nothing that I you don't already know," Giuseppe grumbled back.

"Very well then, I shall call you when our next conference is coming up." The screen popped into blackness as the connection was cut.

Meanwhile Aya trailed behind Alfred as he bustled along trying to put everything in place for the night. Waiters were being rehearsed on the strict expectation of world class service they were hired to provide, security were checked and double checked at every quarter of the hour to ensure the safety of all the guests, while the rest of the busy bodies, were putting all the decorations in place to the exact specifications of Alfred. For some reason, Aya had expected a house party at the penthouse, but she was standing next to a magnificent ocean view from the top of a rather dramatic cliff, complete with a shear wall and a lovely sandy beach at the bottom. Apparently the villa perched on top of this beautiful place was one of the lesser well known one of the Wayne family's, and Alfred had thought it would be a shame to let the house get covered in dust.

"Don't you want to practice a little Aya?" Alfred asked over his shoulders. The girl was like a little grand-daughter tottering around after him.

"Not really. Everyone is so busy helping, I wanted to help too. Isn't there anything I can do?" Aya asked anxiously. She was wringing her hands again, a sign that she was nervous, or guilty.

"Very well. Run to the kitchen and see how they're doing. If they need help then offer them what you can. Oh, and mind you, do be careful not to get that dress dirty."

Aya brightened at the prospect of being useful. "Ok!" she said enthusiastically and dashed away, making sure her cocktail dress didn't catch any corners.

Alfred took a moment to smile with affection after the naïve girl. Reminded him of the days when Bruce was little. His cell phone rang interrupting his thoughts.

"Alfred?" came the voice of Mr. Bruce Wayne.

"Yes Master Bruce?" he answered on his Blackberry.

"Are you alright? I hope your not reminiscing about my childhood again."

"Not at all Master Bruce. What can I do for you?"

I was just calling to check if guests have started to arrive yet and to confirm that I got the security code."

"There are a few early birds, but I suspect the bulk will turn up in another half an hour or so. Will it be usual?"

"Well, not exactly, but pretty much," Bruce replied shiftily. "I'll be there at 8:00 sharp."

"You will be highly anticipated."

"Thanks Alfred." The phone clicked shut.

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By the time the majority of the guests had arrived, Aya was tapping lightly at the piano filling the sophisticated party with jazzy background music. She was very careful not to play anything that was too noisy or dramatic because music can define the whole atmosphere of the party. She didn't pull out all of the stops either, opting for a pleasant but boring piano girl appearance. The people around her all gossiped pleasantly, ladies in their sparkling Valentino, or Oscar de la Renta, and men in their best Armani suits. Unfazed by the last birthday party of Bruce Wayne, almost everyone who was anyone turned up. After all the rich attracts the rich, and Bruce Wayne was certainly the richest of them all.

The center piece of this entire party was of off course the gigantic nine layer cake worth four thousand dollars that sat smugly in the middle of the room. Any wedding cakes would pale in comparison at this masterpiece created by the best cake chief in Gotham. Even the rich people crowded around it, digital cameras snapping away.

At five to eight, Alfred rang a bell, observing his upmost butler image, signaling for everyone's attention. Aya immediately tapered off to an end at the cue. The sparkling chandeliers suddenly all went out leaving everyone in a sudden pitch black. Well it wasn't totally pitch black. The room was illuminated by glow in the dark dots, that glittered along the walls and the tables, making the world seem like the night sky. Everyone "ooooo-ed" appreciatively. A roman candle exploded into the sky showering bright blue lights across the darken night. Everyone started to crowd outside, waiting in high anticipation as more fireworks exploded. Amongst the fireworks a huge elaborate hot air balloon emerged out of the smoke left by the firework. The balloon descended slowly, dramatically, as it landed onto the cliff. The birthday boy stepped off accompanied by the three beautiful girls, two of them were super models, one of them definitely French, and the other was last year's Miss. Universe. All three of them gave him a kiss on the cheek as they stepped off. Everyone clapped enthusiastically.

Bruce clapped his hands together, ever the philanthropic, playboy billionaire. "Alright everyone, I promise this will not be a burning down the house party. So feel free to enjoy yourself to the upmost tonight," he said good-naturedly, invoking laughter from the audience.

Aya watched from the shadows, thinking all of this was so unnecessarily dramatic. When Bruce went back to mingling with the crowd, Aya also returned to the piano. She was a little miffed at the thought that this man who was THE batman was so laid back and flirty. She shook her head, opting to forget about this and focus on her job. Her fingers flied across the keys never missing a beat, determined to earn her pay.

"Aya Inagaki, is that you?" a clear strong voice rung out from the crowd to where the sleek grand piano stood.

Every hair on her neck stood up the sound of that familiar voice. Aya dodged to the side, whipping out her sword from the side of the piano, where she had hidden it from security. People around her screamed and suddenly she was standing an arm's length away from a man in a crisp white suit, the sharp side of her sword against his neck, while staring into his gun barrel. He grinned showing all of his teeth. "My, my, what were the chances we'd catch each other half way around the world, neh?" he replied calmly wagging a finger at her, "But I see that you still have that nasty disposition don't you? How are you ever supposed to find a boy at this rate?"

Aya could feel the cold beads of sweat dripping down her face; her heart was pounding a mile a second. For the first time in a long while, fear welled up in her chest. The man across her shrugged and lowered his gun, "hey hey, people calm down. It was just a joke," he said addressing the extremely tense air that had built up around them. Aya lowered her sword, but just enough so that it was away from the immediate vicinity of his neck. No one looked very assured. "Aya here is my old partner and friend back in Japan. She is one of the toughest katana wheeling girls I know. How about we do a demonstration Aya? A pre-dinner show to liven up the party?"

The crowd mumbled hesitantly but the small piano girl didn't look like much of a threat, as oppose to the say…Joker, so the crowd gave into excitement at the idea. Aya found herself in the middle of a large circle. Only she seemed to be aware of the life and death situation that she was suddenly stuck in.

"Mr. Tamano, what are you doing to my pianist?" Bruce Wayne demanded fighting his way into the center of the riot, placing himself firmly between Aya and the offender.

Tamano laughed, running a hand through his spiked black hair. "Bruce you have great eyes for girls but the way you waste Aya's talent makes my heart cry. Allow me to demonstrate her true abilities; she really is a diamond in the rough."

Bruce was unfazed by this banter, "Well I really don't think that's necessary. Besides I don't think Aya wants to participate in your game."

Tamano smiled wolfishly, "Well Aya," he said looking past Bruce's shoulder, into Aya's slanted Asian eyes, "Are you going to back down?"

Aya straightened up though her hands were shaking. "It's ok Mr. Wayne, really," she said placing a hand on his shoulder, chiding him to the side. "No one's going to get hurt," she stated firmly, her eyes never straying from the tall Asian man in front of her, as a body guard replaced the gun in his hand with a katana. She stepped out of her heels, flinging them to the side and took stance.

Everyone clapped excitedly and Bruce was chaffed to the side, powerless. Tamano smiled as he drew a wickedly sharp sword out. Aya nearly rolled her eyes at the melodrama, but that would've distracted her from her opponent. Instead she charged first, the force of her blow sent sparks flying across the marble floor. She dodged then strike, back away, and then attacked again. She was losing, every blow sent her arms into reverberating with shock, and her energy drained away like water down a large drain. Her physical abilities were just no match for this man. She dodged again, but this time the blade sliced through a lock of her hair, a little too close for comfort. Aya straightened up and tightened her grip; she flung herself to one side as a decoy, thrusting her blade up into the air, tearing a strip through Tamano's white suit.

Aya dropped her sword. Tamano had out maneuvered her, and his blade shined dangerously at her neck. She stayed perfectly still, forcing herself to breath slowly as she counted the seconds that ticked by. After what seemed like eternity, Tamano let his katana down and the crowd clapped enthusiastically. Tamano smiled, but it was a smile that didn't reach his eyes as he sheathed his sword. "See Bruce? No one got hurt, just like Aya promised."

Bruce eyed him with a hard glare, but before he could reply, the door to the dining burst open dramatically as the main chef stepped out. He had a toothpick think mustache that he twirled between his thumb and index finger, relishing the attention. "Ladies and gentlemen," he announced in his false French accent, straightening himself to his maximum height, "Le dinner is served." He bowed while holding the door open. The crowd quickly made its way into the room, and the normal festive atmosphere returned in a gusto.

Tamano was laughing and shaking hands, as he shed his torn blazer, walking with the guests to the dining room. Only Aya stood, unmoving, her small framing heaving heavily. Bruce made a mental note to speak with her before the night was out.

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A/N: Phew, this chapter took me quite a while, but that was because 95% of the time I was wallowing in writer's block that usually catch up to me around this point. Anyhow Reviews please readers!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I'm very boring today, and I have no witty comments for this space that I've left for myself. Anyways enjoy!

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Chapter 5

The Joker stared questioningly at the joker card in his hand. He did this whenever he needed to think deeply by himself. Something was bothering him. It had bothered him so much that he had not even whimsically wanted to torture some so called innocent civilian. The card in his hand had a black joker in one hand and another white joker on the other side, a defective product that he had found somewhere. He played the events of the other day over in his head. Sure he was unlucky when that Asian girl pulled some crazy kung fu stunt, but that's not exactly unheard of. No it was a certain Mr. Wayne, billionaire, renowned philanthropist and playboy who had broke his way there in an impossibly short amount of time to save her; that was the surprise.

Something was not quite right.

The Joker sat down, and he rubbed his chin. He could still recall that day, almost a year ago, when he stormed into Bruce Wayne's penthouse and threw that little chit out the window. It was immense fun to see batman hurl himself out after her falling ten stories to the ground. Yes, he reasoned, since batman was there, it must have been batman who hid Harvey Dent, not that it mattered later on, but where was the host? Where was Bruce Wayne that night at his own party? Surely he wasn't a spineless man who ran at the first sign of trouble. He did try very hard to save that Asian girl. The Joker flicked the card aside. He did say that he wasn't interested in who batman was and he had for the most part meant every word; but, there was a little of part of him that was just a little bit curious.

He stood up abruptly with a childish grin on his face and went to the thing that was kind of a closet in the corner. It was a dirty closet, with dust and dirt lying on top of everything. The Joker yanked at the old string that turned on the cracked yellow light bulb. It filled the cramped space with barely enough light to see the dark shadows of some boxes, and few old tattered coats, purple coats. Spiders hurried out of sight as he picked up some of the boxes, tossing them carelessly to the side. "Now where is it," he muttered to himself, while picking through the assortment of old clothes in one of the boxes. Not finding what he was looking for, he stood up and gave his untidy room a sweeping glance. "Oh." he said as his eyes fell on the package on his working table. He unzipped the case to reveal a brand new purple suit, complete with a matching hat and a pair of shoes. He smiled wolfishly has he threw it on admiring himself in the cracked full length mirror that hung on the wall beside his work table.

The circus background music really suited him, he thought to himself as he wagged a finger in time to the music. Then he realized it was his cell phone ringing. He picked it up off the table, and put it to his ear, "Well?" he asked. There was only one person who knew this number.

"We found it boss," the other replied, we found where he lives."

"Good, good work," he cooed, "Now I shall pay, a little visit."

Glancing himself one last time in the mirror, he traded the phone for a wickedly sharp knife from his work table and said to it in a gentle loving way, "Let's go conduct a little experiment shall we?"

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Despite the fact that she had lost her match with Tamano, people paid more attention to Aya and inquiries about who the talented girl that got to play at Bruce Wayne's party were murmured everywhere. "Bruce, what is the name of your lovely pianist? I simply must have her at my party next month," said the wife of an important politician.

Bruce smiled, "Yes she's quiet the gem. I'll have Alfred give you her contact. I'm sure you won't be disappointed."

"He's so generous," the stunning blonde holding his left arm said in her French accent, smiling up at him affectionately.

"And he has such superior taste, especially when it comes to women," said the other on his right arm, the recently crowned Miss. Universe.

Bruce displayed his most mesmerizing smile and gave each of them a kiss, "Now now girls, you're making it uncomfortably hot here."

One of the girls moaned, another tugged at his silk tie trying to loosen it, "Let's go to the pool and you can help me cool off," she said half dragging him towards the door, the thin strap on her shoulder slipped off.

"Ahem," a sharp cough came from behind.

Bruce turned around, somewhat unwillingly, "Yvonne!" he said with a forced enthusiastic smile, "I'm so glad you made it! Ah, this is Monica Sullivan, also known as Miss Universe, and this is Valentine Duchamp, she's going to be modeling in the Milan show next week. Girls, this is my most esteemed colleague, Yvonne Jones."

The girls mumbled some reply, evidently upset that their plan to have Bruce Wayne all to themselves had been ruined.

Yvonne did not smile; she only pursed her lips in what was evidently disgust. "Enchanted. Now Bruce, since you are the Chairman, I suppose you will make the announcement about you-know-what? Before you run off?"

Bruce nearly rolled his eyes, instead he said graciously, "Of course Yvonne, how can I forget, but thank you for remind me. In fact let's do that now. Excuse me girls," he said making his way to the center of the room. "Ladies and Gentlemen," he said clearly, " I hope that you are enjoying yourself, Mr. Yerkerov I know my wine is good, but that is your last glass," there was a mumble of appreciative laughter. Mr. Yerkerov grinned wobbly over his fifth glass of wine, clearly without any idea that he was the center of ridicule. He didn't even notice how everyone was staring at him.

"Now, I like to announce that Wayne Enterprise has just signed a four years contract with Vectors Inc.," Bruce held up a crystal flute filled with sparkling champagne, "Mr. Tamano, this is to success." Tamano raised his own glass, and everyone clapped. Aya sat beside the piano glumly. It was practically impossible to enjoy the rest of the evening now. After all, her situation has suddenly taken a turn for the very worst.

As the night wore on, more and more people left, most of them intoxicated. Aya stopped after one o'clock in the morning. She carefully massaged her fingers as she made her way out onto the large veranda that encircled half of the villa. It really was a beautiful place. In the dim moonlight, she could see the dark vastness of the ocean. She walked slowly towards the back; Alfred had said that the roses in the garden were in full bloom.

Aya could smell the roses far before she saw them; they were mixed in with the cool salty sea air, sending endorphins to her brain. It didn't bother her. It was good to just be able to shake off the stiffness in her bones from playing the piano for so long. The rose bushes were taller than Aya, and it made a kind of maze, but the path was well lit, so Aya didn't worry about getting lost.

She stopped beside a rose bush, they had lovely white roses and she bent down to smell one. A hand grabbed her around the waist pulling her back, and the next second she was pinned down to the ground, another hard hand pressed the side of her head into the soft grass. "Hey love," Tamano said with a wolfish grin. "Why is it that you were avoiding me all night? I'm sorry that I have to do this, but I'm afraid that you'll run away and we can't even have a decent chat. I mean it has been two years."

Aya didn't struggle. Struggling makes your attacker tenser and more alert. Instead she contented herself to evening out her breathing. "Let go of me, I'm not going to run away," she replied crossly in Japanese when she caught her breath.

Tamano paused for a few seconds and then let her up. "Alright then, walk with me," he said not letting go of arm, guiding her down the small winding path, "What happened to you? Have become useless or something? What are you doing playing piano? I didn't even know you could play."

"You don't know a lot of things. I'm poor, and I nearly died a few times, and I now I meet you. That's how bad my life is," she said angrily, shrugging off his hard grip. "What are you doing here?"

"Me? Don't sound so accusing. I'm doing business, you know the legal way. I'm doing quite well," he replied smoothly. "So did you find that useless brother of yours?"

Aya didn't meet his eyes, "No," she said shortly, "Well, I'm going to go. It was horrible to meet you again, as always. Please don't follow me. We won't meet again," Aya made an attempt to walk away as fast as she could, only to have Tamano grab her arm, hauling her back.

"Not so fast," he said, "I did a little research after you left me on that cold raining night. I know where your brother is and it really wouldn't be that difficult to get him, if you know what I mean."

Aya stopped abruptly, "Takeshi, you don't get. I don't want your help and I don't want to be associated with-with whatever it is that you do. So just stay out of my way," Aya demanded vehemently, and then she added, "And that day when I left, it was boiling hot."

Aya glared at the grip on her arm that had somehow tightened. "W-what? Are you going to kidnap me? You can't do it by yourself."

Tamano wasn't listening, he had also stopped walking. Aya glanced around nervously. There was a hushed whispering and rustling as if someone had been hiding from them.

Tamano strode up to the rose bush on his right and pushed it aside, thorns, flowers and all. There on the ground behind it was Bruce, three girls and two empty bottles of champagne. Bruce smiled as he saw the two of them. The girls went into a fit of uncontrolled giggles. "Ok girls, we've been caught, so fun's over. Off, all of you."

The girls stood up wobbly, still giggling madly as they stumbled off their heeled shoes in their hands. Bruce sat up and smiled, "I hope you're not abducting my pianist Mr. Tamano. I have strict orders from her parents to keep her safe."

Tamano smiled a little showing off his sharp canine teeth, "Do you mean her dead father? Or her estranged mother?" he asked. Aya flinched violently at the mentions of her parents.

Bruce stopped smiling and stood up steadily casting away the facade of intoxication; from his stance it was clear that he had barely anything to drink at all. "I don't know what kind of relationship you have with Aya, but tonight's little scrapple was clearly uncalled for," Bruce said. Although his voice was spoken with lightness, it was layered with a sharp hostility that even a child could sense. "She recently saved my life, and I owe her quite a lot. Which reminds me, Alfred said I had to bring you back by two thirty. Shall we go Aya? If I drive fast we can still make it."

Aya nodded and shuffled carefully around Tamano to stand beside Bruce.

"Well goodnight Tamano. I hope you liked the party," Bruce finished with a wave of his hand, his voice was carefree again. Aya trailed dejectedly after him not daring to glance at her former friend.

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They sat in the car in silence, as always. Aya didn't speak because she didn't know what the best thing to say in a situation like this was, and Bruce kept quiet since he wasn't sure which question he should ask. He really wanted to ask her about everything, her past, her parents, her relationship with Tamano, especially Tamano but everything seemed extremely personal.

"Look I don't know what your situation is right now, but it seems to be a lot more complicated than what you lead people to believe," Bruce said carefully. When Aya didn't reply, he continued, "So if you need help or if you need someone to talk to, I wouldn't mind helping out."

Aya sighed hugging her knees to her chest, "That was horribly cheesy. But thanks, why don't you just ask what you want to know, and I'll tell you what I can."

"Ok, well Aya, why did you fight him?" Bruce asked over the wheel, casting a quick glance at the dejected girl.

"I had to, it's the code of honour," she replied miserably, "I'm a deserter, and I'm obligated to fight the group's member if they challenge me."

"Was this a gang?" Bruce asked trying to keep his tone light but clearly failing as the graveness made Aya shirk further away.

Aya nodded meekly, "Yeah, but that was when I was really young, and things were messed up. I left about five years ago."

"So I'm guessing Tamano was in the gang with you?"

"He was the boss. Funny, I always imagined that he would end up with the yakuza," she said frowning slightly, "They adored him; we'd use to get a visit every week from different groups that wanted to recruit him. He is very skilled." The Asian girl said glancing down at her uneven hair.

Bruce was silent for a minute, absorbing the information. "What do you think happened to him after you left?" Bruce finally asked.

"I dunno," Aya replied sullen as before, "I don't care, I've washed my hands of them."

Bruce smiled, "Well you certainly gave me a scare when you whipped out that sword. Maybe we can have a match sometimes."

This time is Aya's turn to be surprised, "Wow, Mr. Batman-san is knowledged in the ways of the samurai, I'm impressed," she said hiding a giggle in her hand.

"You don't believe me?" Bruce exclaimed.

"I believe you enough," Aya replied coyly.

Bruce glanced over, puzzled, "What's that suppose to mean?"

Aya shook her head with a smile, "Secret," she replied then she paused, "By the way, I'm leaving tomorrow."

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A/N: Thank you for reading!


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